Can Chemicals Make us Fat?

Posted on September 8, 2012 by jo

I took a class* last week that confirmed with academic brilliance a simple but essential understanding that is actually the basis of the Whole Body Detox Diet approach. This simple truth is that chemicals are making modern people fat (and sick)…not calories!

We are not just being overfed…we are literally being poisoned.

Certain chemicals that appear in common household items like cosmetics, detergents, furniture, dry cleaned clothes, drinking water, medications and food additives seriously interrupt and disturb many of our vital bodily functions. Many of these chemicals interfere with hormonal signaling that governs our ability to maintain a healthy body weight.

New research has identified at least 20 different chemicals that have the ability to alter fat metabolism and promote fat retention. They are called Obesogens!

(I know…it’s crazy, but true)

So, if you’ve been “trying everything” to loose weight and get healthy but haven’t detoxed these chemicals from your system you may not be able to reach your goal.

If you’ve been dieting, counting calories and exercising and still struggling with those last 10 pounds…these chemicals may be the culprit.

And, of course, if these toxic chemicals can interfere with our hormonal systems, cellular function and even our DNA, they are affecting a lot more than the number on the scale. Beyond weight gain, obesity and diabetes, the toxic chemicals we’re exposed to on a daily basis are also the main contributors to:

All forms of Cancer
Thyroid Disease
Infertility
ADHD, Autism and other neurological disorders
Digestive Issues
Heart Disease
And many other conditions

This is why detoxing has become so important in recent years…and why the Whole Body Detox Diet approach is so effective.

Cleansing and clearing these toxins from our systems is essential for health and longevity. But in the Whole Body Detox approach we’re not just pushing the toxins out. We’re consciously stepping back from our normal toxic load and learning new tools and habits that promote a low-toxin lifestyle. We also use specific cleansing foods and herbs to support our organs in releasing the toxic chemicals we’ve absorbed and reversing their effects. And, of course, we have lots of fun along the way!

If you’re ready to truly get a handle on your health and free yourself from the effects of these insidious toxic chemicals then you’re invited to join in on this year’s Guided Fall Cleanse.

There’s a great group of people gathering from all around the country to focus our collective attention on high quality cleansing and loving natural self-care.

Let’s clear these toxins out together to reclaim our rights to natural bodily functions, ideal body weight and vibrant health!

*This class I took was Lara Adler’s “Chemicals not Calories- Uncovering Obesogens: How Toxins Are Making & Keeping Us Fat.” She is brilliant!!! Keep your eye out for more from her in the near future. We’re planning an interview to share some of her knowledge with all of you.
Register today for this year’s Whole Body Detox Guided Fall Cleanse to clear these chemicals safely and effectively from your body and learn how to easily maintain a low-toxin lifestyle.

Jo delAmor, Personal Transformation and Detox Coach, co-creator of Whole Body Detox Diet

Soak up the Summer

Posted on July 10, 2012 by jo

This weekend my daughter and I headed out for a Summer adventure with two of our best friends…because it’s Summer!!!

I mean, really, life is so beautiful and precious and amazing and our girls are growing up so fast…and right now, in the midst of Summer, is the time…to escape onto windy mountain roads…revel in the abundance of the cherry harvest…dive into cold flowing rivers…and run through a sudden afternoon downpour back to the safety and warmth of the car. So we did it!

We drove West, through the canyons and mountains of Colorado, letting our cute little town and the high alpine desert fade in the rearview mirror as we headed into the relative ecological diversity of the San Juans. Snaky rivers and happy cows meandered through grassy fields as we came up through Gunnison and Crested Butte. People relaxed on their porches with friends, rode their bikes through the sweet mountain towns and played games in the ball fields, soaking up the beauty of a summertime Friday afternoon.

Out of Crested Butte we went up Kebler pass, heading deep into the high alpine aspengroves where a huge herd of sheep roam free and wild flowers speckle the roadside. It was wet and luscious up there. A wild mountain paradise!

The long and windy descent lead us to our destination…into the town of Paonia…for a weekend of fine art and cherries. Paonia is the fruit mecca of the Colorado Rockies and the cherries are going off.

As a happy coincidence, an old highschool friend of mine…Hillary Emerson Lay…whom I hadn’t seen for about 15 years, was having an art show! yay!! So, we started out the weekend by surprising her and totally freaking her out…the show was gorgeous and it was awesome to see her.

Then, after a night of sleeping on the sweet summer earth, we dove right into the abundance and glory of fresh ripe fruit. It’s cherry season and the orchards are FULL of the most orgasmically delicious sweet juicy fresh cherries you could imagine. It’s like way better than Christmas…tree after tree after tree, loaded down with red juicy YUMMINESS.

We grabbed some baskets and headed out into the orchard, wide-eyed and wonderstruck. There were harvesting ladders to climb but I just wanted to be IN the tree, so I climbed and climbed until there was nothing but leaves and cherries all around me, held by the tree, embraced in her generosity.

As I reached out my hands to fill my basket with soft cherries I was overcome with gratitude for the gift of life…for scent, taste, sensation, fulfillment, inspiration…for the abundance and generosity of the natural world…for our ability to receive support, love and nourishment.

With each handful of cherries I gave thanks… “Thank you…thank you…thank you…” is all that was running through my mind…what else is there at the height of Summer when you’re sitting in a cherry tree?

Over forty pounds of fresh ripe juicy cherries, four very happy girls and a deliriously ecstatic sock critter, made by Hillary Emerson Lay

(check out her Etsy page if you want one for yourself)

PS…I got 17 pounds of cherries (OMG!! I just couldn’t stop) and I’m working on getting them pitted and frozen so they keep. When I stop just eating them whole and start making dishes and desserts with them I’ll be sure to post some recipes…so stay tuned.

You’re invited to schedule a Personal Strategy Session with me to receive loving guidance and practical support for your personal transformation and holistic wellbeing. Jo delAmor, Personal Transformation Coach.

Re-Parenting Ourselves…

Posted on July 2, 2012 by jo

During this time of global transition and societal transformation we’re having to do a lot of “re” work…relearning, redirecting…re-membering and re-collecting all the scattered pieces of our whole selves. And along the way most of us have to do some significant re-parenting, as well.

Many of us emerged from childhood without the confidence, clarity and empowerment needed to thrive as well adjusted adults. The unconditional love and supportive, compassionate guidance a young person needs to develop successfully was in short supply in most of our childhood households. It isn’t because our parents didn’t love us and do the best they could with the tools, resources and awareness they had at the time.

It is because, as a society, we are growing up and healing through generations of collective trauma…wars, genocide, oppression, sexism, racism, domestic violence, slavery, etc.

We each stem from a lineage that has been harshly wounded and has done its best to persevere in a troubled and violent world. Dysfunctional behavior patterns like authoritarian control, co-dependence, abuse, manipulation, addictions and other ways of limiting our brilliance are the coping mechanisms that have made it possible to survive through these troubled times. But they won’t be able to lead us into a functional and healthy future.

At a time when the old structures are falling apart it is our right and responsibility to create anew. It is time for us to re-birth ourselves and re-parent ourselves into thriving, well-adjusted, compassionate and capable adults so that we can be of service to the re-birth and healing of the world. Even if we weren’t nurtured as children, it is time to muster up the ability to nurture our children, our communities, our projects and our work in the world. If we allow it, this ability will arise out of our innate human creativity and our natural impulse to survive and thrive and pass a livable planet on to our children.

The best place to start is always the closest to home…

Right in our own hearts and minds. Each of us has an inner child and an inner parent. These are the voices that swirl around inside of us whining, complaining, worrying, nagging, criticizing and scolding. They can rule our lives and keep us from living into our full selves if we let them play out their patterns without awareness.

As we become aware of them we have the opportunity to treat them as our beloved and wounded children…to hold them gently and listen…to find out what they need in order to feel safe and comfortable. This may seem risky. Most of us just want to push them away, banish them, punish them or judge them because they cause us so much trouble. But this is just perpetuating the cycle of neglect and abuse. As we turn toward the voices and open our arms to them we often find that it wanted nothing more than acknowledgment, just like a child. Once we’ve embraced these aspects of ourselves they become our allies and they can help us move forward rather than holding us back.

The tides are turning…

As we approach the apex of the global transformation almost everything is upside down and inside out. We are in such a state of breakdown that we can no longer count on our elders to guide the way. Of course, there are some truly special elders on the planet that carry essential teachings and wisdom but the majority of those in older generations are stuck in self-limiting and dysfunctional beliefs that arose as a reaction to trauma.

Now is the time that we must take responsibility for our own personal development. It is up to us to heal the wounds of our lineage and clear the way for the young ones. No one else will do this for us. We can heal these wounds as an act of service to the future. The young ones that are being born into the world now are here to heal and restore the planet. If we can get most of the baggage out of the way for them, they will be able to do their jobs more easily and powerfully. We may even think of them as our elders as we serve them with honor and respect, looking to the future for guidance rather than the past.

Receiving divine lovin’ from the Universal parents…

Our own mothers and fathers may not have been able to raise us in a field of unconditional love and compassionate guidance, but each and every one of us has access to parents that can. The Divine creative LIFE force energy that moves through and supports all things is the Universal Mother/Father we all innately want to connect with. This parental force is as close to us as our breath and blood.

Many of us have lost our intimate and sustained connection to this LIFE force energy over the years of trauma and conditioning. When we are traumatized or disappointed by our birth parents or society our typical response is to withdraw and shut down in order to protect ourselves. This may help temporarily to remove the immediate threat or to harden against abuse but it also cuts off our ability to receive love and support from the Universal Mother/Father.

As we take responsibility for our healing and personal development we may choose to reopen ourselves to this supportive parental energy. This reopening requires diligence and deep courage. As we unlearn our dysfunctional patterns and re-learn how to tap into this powerful energy, we’ll re-create our essential intimate relationship with the Universal Mother/Father. In this relationship we’ll find that we are held, guided and filled with inspiration to prepare the way for future generations to thrive.

Radiant Balance Holstic Health

Loving the Questions

Posted on June 28, 2012 by jo

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”

― Rainer Maria Rilke

This quote has been sitting on my altar for the past 6 weeks or so. I read it everyday and it has been working me…working my impatience and anxiety…my desire to just “be there” already. It’s been teaching me to surrender at yet a deeper level…isn’t that always the game…deeper and deeper levels of surrender, relaxing into our paths within the Divine design.

As much as we may try…

we simply can’t force our destinies or our healing processes.

The healing or resolution we yearn for will come when it’s damn well good and ready…not a moment sooner. Or it will come when you’re damn well good and ready. Ultimately, all we can do to truly facilitate the process is to relax, align and get out of the way.

I’ve been living with a big unsolved mystery in my heart for the majority of my life. When my sister died in 1987 my heart got twisted in pain. Over years of grief it manifested into a significant structural twist in my rib cage, spine and shoulder carriage. About 9 years ago I finally let myself acknowledge it and decided it probably wasn’t healthy to walk around with this trauma imbedded into my bones so I set out to correct it.

It became a mission. Over the last decade I have seen some of the best practitioners of bodywork, massage, polarity, cranio-sacral, structural integration, chiropractic, acupuncture…I have taken on a Chi Kung practice and worked with Pilates. I have experienced mind blowing and deeply transformative Theta healing sessions, shamanic healings, reiki and all sorts of energy work with an underlying, yet desperate desire to become “normal” again.

Sometimes I get discouraged when I look down at my chest or put my hand on my heart. I feel contorted…like it isn’t right to be all twisted up like this. Like I should have figured it out by now. Sometimes I even give up for a while and just resign myself to being this way forever. But I am always called back to the process…

And with each wave of healing intention I dive deeper and learn more about this creature that I am…I learn more about my body, my heart, my mind and my soul. Through all of these treatments and rituals I have learned the story of my unfolding…I have learned about the preciousness of life and love and body and heart…and I have learned about the process of healing…and I’ve learned that I can’t force my ribs to go back to “normal” before they’re ready no matter how much I want to and how much I work on them. In all these years of trying to find the answer I have come to love and respect the question, developing compassion and empathy for its every nuance…and patience for the little girl’s heart that is trying to heal.

But, in no way have I given up. Instead, I’ve come to feel that this deep longing to heal is a message from my destiny…pulling me forward into my future. I can feel and see my ribs opening, balanced and gently cradling my vibrant heart. I can sense the beauty and empowerment unfolding through this chakra as it’s healed. And I know now much more of what it will take to live this answer…to live open and loving…to trust Life…I’m learning to BE with the question while preparing myself to live into the answer…

Best Day Ever

Posted on June 18, 2012 by jo

I just had another one of those “best day ever” kind of days. I feel so incredibly blessed that these kind of days have become more of a regular occurrence in the past several years and that lately there are more of them then not. There are still some “ho-hum” days and some fairly difficult days here and there, but these mind-blowingly awesome days are outnumbering them by far.

The gifts that the Universe offers to us in exchange for presence and gratitude are truly astounding!

As I become more present and am able to greet each new day/moment with gratitude and openness, my life becomes richer and more beautiful. I am able to feel more of the miraculous details of the Divine design, I get to inJOY more of each moment and I am graced with bountiful connections, outrageous opportunities and simple pleasures. This reciprocation is almost instant and is ever so generous.

I got to start the day off today with deep creative connection with my daughter. She and I have spent the last couple of days on an impromptu art odyssey. A few nights ago, we poured through one of Alex Grey’s books and talked in depth about every picture. Then, the next day, we explored Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dali, Vincent VanGough and M.C. Escher online, talking about their lives and marveling at their pieces. She was so inspired by these masters that she decided to make a painting for her dad for Father’s Day. She envisioned the piece and we worked together to pull it off, connecting, learning, laughing and thoroughly enjoying the collaborative creative process.

Once the piece was finished we headed out to her dad’s house (just a short walk down the road) to dive into another collaborative creative project with our sacred community. Today was the day to build our new community sweatllodge. It’s time to retire the one we’ve been praying in for the past few years and start fresh again.

We have been blessed with a most amazing community of deeply devoted people with open hearts who are willing to work hard and laugh loud in gratitude for all that is offered. Collectively, we put our heads, hands and backs into the glorious process of gathering willow and weaving our new lodge with prayers of thanks giving throughout the day.

Working together with my human brothers and sisters, following the guidance of the Creator and connecting deeply with the plants and animals of the natural world awakens and ancient and primal life force within me that feels more right than anything else I have experienced.

My favorite thing ever is feeling FREE to be human here on the Earth in deep relation to with my community and the Creator…wild and raw…loving, learning, growing, praying, sharing, singing and listening. Riding in the back of the pick-up truck stacked high with freshly harvested willow bows, singing thanks and praises, lifted my heart in JOY.

“Planting” the willows back into the Earth in respect to each direction and working together to bend and weave them back toward each other to create the sacred womb we will pray in nourished the depth of my soul. We worked hard today and built a beautiful lodge that will serve the prayers of our community for years. Now my body is tired and my heart is FULL.

This was a “best day ever” sort of day for me…What are yours like?

I’d love to hear what makes you feel whole and fulfilled in the comments below…what kind of blessings are being bestowed upon you?

Praise be to LIFE!

Posted on June 15, 2012 by jo

Praise be to LIFE…

Humming teeming squirming tenacious LIFE

Praise be to Her courage

And unwavering devotion to growth.

Praise be to the urge that

Arises in each tender seed

And in each of our hearts.

Blessed LIFE,

You tear apart every containment,

Breaking through the concrete

And reclaiming your rightful dominion.

You rip the status quo asunder

With a fierce and thirsty

Impulse to evolve and expand.

Incarnation after incarnation

You keep coming back for more

Undaunted by the abuses you’ve suffered.

Crucifixions and witch hunts

Cannot scare you off

Oil spills and nuclear disasters

Cannot hold you down.

Praise be to LIFE eternal

Rising above and beyond all harm

Squirming teeming humming

Through the Universe to the

Beat of Her own drum.

Rediscovering Food

Posted on April 28, 2012 by jo

An excerpt from the book I’m working on…coming soon!

“At 24 years old I participated in growing food for the first time. I had eaten food every day of my life for 24 years but had never had a hand in bringing it from seed to plate. I had never witnessed the transformation a seed goes through to become the recognizable food on my plate or experienced the amount of care and energy it takes to make that journey.

Up until that point food was something to buy at the store or eat at a restaurant. It came from packages. It was all about flavor and convenience and brand name products. The fruits and vegetables I bought at the store were cleaned up and tamed into their uniform sellable bundles. I had no idea where they came from, who had tended them and what they looked like while they were growing.

During that first season growing food I was continually amazed and sometimes shocked to find out what all the different seeds and plants looked like…nothing like I would have imagined. Broccoli was an epiphany! Buying broccoli at the store I never would have guessed that what I held in my hand was just the central flower for an enormous leafy plant. And the seeds…some were almost microscopic and some were large and alien looking. And the abundance! Each little seed miraculously growing into a glorious plant that produced, in turn, delicious nourishing food and countless new seeds to continue the process in perpetuity.

I was pregnant with my first child that year. I ripened along with the garden, planting the first seeds just as I was beginning to show and giving birth right there at the garden during early harvest while the sunflowers were popping into brilliant suns and the abundance was starting to flow. We had grown almost an acre of food in the middle of the high alpine desert, turning sand into food and experiencing first hand the true miracle of life. My daughter, growing in my womb, was with me as I relearned what food is all about, as I walked barefoot in the garden and dug my hands in the soil…as I tasted the delicate flavors of fresh food grown with mountain sunshine and abiding love. Her first breath was the air that those plants had purified and her mama’s milk was nourished directly by them.

Swimming in the energy of miracles upon miracles, holding my precious baby daughter, I wondered what it would be like to grow up this way…to know food and its Source so intimately…to walk barefoot in the gardens and watch the plants grow…to be that connected. Right then and there I committed to making that possible for her…and we’ve grown a garden together every year since.”

How could you rediscover food this growing season?

3 Tips for Clearing the Toxins Out with LOVE!

Posted on April 9, 2012 by jo

1. Create Flow

Detox is not about following rules and having all the right supplements…it’s ALL about flow!!

The object of the game is to dislodge and stir up the toxins that are lurking in your fat cells and flush them OUT of your body, once and for all.

The special combinations of herbs and whole foods recommended in Whole Body Detox Diet cleanses are designed to generate flow. When combined with lots of water, fiber, exercise, bodywork and sweating, it all starts flowing! Detoxing this way is fun, easy and lovingly gentle on your body.

2. Slow down

Your detox is an excellent time to give yourself some space and time out from the fast pace of life.Your body will be working hard to clear out the old stuff and you may feel tired or spacey.

Waking rest and plenty of sleep will help you release your t oxins more ease-fully.

Postpone appointments and projects that can wait until after your detox. This will give your body a break from all those toxic stress hormones and you’ll have greater energy, inspiration and clarity to get back in your game after you’ve cleansed.

3. Pay attention

Detoxing is an amazing opportunity to get to know yourself better. As you release old toxins, your new present moment self will emerge.

Pay close attention to your experience and notice what’s happening in your body. This is the perfect time to learn how to listen to your body. You’ll discover what it likes, what it doesn’t like, and what it really needs to thrive.

With the “white noise” of all those toxins out of the way, you’ll hear your body’s true messages more clearly.

To make this level of self-love and self-care a reality for you, join cleansers from around the country in this year’s Whole Body Detox Diet Guided Spring Cleanse.

With two live teleclasses, easy to follow guidelines, and continuous online support, we’ll guide you in creating a truly loving detox experience. We will be there to answer your questions every step of the way so that you can be certain to have all the knowledge you need for a successful detox!

Radiant Balance Holstic Health You’re invited to schedule a Personal Strategy Session with me to receive loving guidance and practical support for your personal transformation and holistic wellbeing. Jo delAmor, Personal Transformation Coach.

Obstacles…be Gone!

Posted on April 3, 2012 by jo

What gets in your way?

Pain? Fatigue? Frustration? Chaos? Fear? Overwhelm? These are some of the obstacles that can keep you from experiencing life at its fullest.

Many of these obstacles stem from blockages and imbalances in your physical body. When your body is using its vital creative energy to filter and dispose of an onslaught of toxic chemicals, re-balance its blood sugar after the morning pastry and recover from the adrenal damage caused by caffeine you can get to feeling really worn out. Pain, inflammation, fatigue, digestive issues and low immunity are a few of the noticeable signs of this scenario.

When your physical body is bogged down with toxins and disease your life can feel heavy and meaningless. And in this state, it’s nearly impossible to enjoy life and accomplish great tasks. There is just no energy left over to dream up a better future, play with your children, serve your community, create beauty or bond with your loved ones.

The good news is…
your body wants to be healthy and functional. And with a little support from you, it can get there pretty easily.Making Friends with your Body

Your physical body is the focal point of your experience here on Earth. You take the world in and process it through your physical sensory organs, digestion and respiration. Any action or deed you accomplish in this lifetime will be delivered by means of your body. All the joys your experience are experienced through your body. Even thoughts and ideas are dependent on your body to form and come to fruition.

You don’t get to do anything in this life without your body.This may seem obvious. But so many of us run around every day, accomplishing tasks, in complete denial of our bodies’ vital needs.

Banish your Obstacles with a Good Detox

Clearing away the physical debris that weighs your body down and learning how to keep your physical channels free and clear is an excellent way to make friends with your body. As you detox your body and learn how to maintain this clarity you will be rewarded with more energy, clearer thinking, inspiration and joy. The obstacles that stemmed from toxic overload will vanish and you’ll have the energy and clarity to maneuver through any new obstacles that come your way.

Fortunately, you can take a HUGE step toward clearing away these obstacles and making good friends with your body by joining a group of cleansers from around the country in this year’s Guided Spring Cleanse with Whole Body Detox Diet!

Radiant Balance Holstic Health

The Difference Between Truth and ‘the Facts’

Posted on March 30, 2012 by jo

This past week I’ve been enjoying a beautiful celebration of the Divine Mother in her many aspects at our local Haidakhandi Universal Ashram.

It’s called Spring Navratri.

The first three days are dedicated to mother Durga, the goddess of destruction andrestoration who clears away obstacles and obscurations. The second three days are for mother Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and beauty who fills that cleared space with pure sattvic energy of truth and peace. And the last three days are dedicated to mother Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom and the arts who spreads these truths through her works in the world.

Each day, after we make offerings to the sacred fire (agni) and sing hymns to Ma, our local pundits (scholars) share a discourse with us on the many qualities of Ma and the universal truths that run through all of existence. One of the stories was about…

The difference between the truth and the facts.

A Brahmin meditating in the woods was faced with a hard decision when a wild boar, screaming in pain from being struck by an arrow, ran by him. He felt the pain of the animal and prayed to Saraswati who endowed him with this wisdom:

“The truth is that which benefits all beings and causes

no harm or loss of life.”

Then the hunter who had shot the arrow came by and asked him if he had seen the boar he had shot. The fact was that he had seen the boar and could’ve helped the hunter finish his kill by telling him. But he decided to say “No, I have not seen the boar” in order to protect and preserve his life.

So What’s the Truth Today?

After hearing this simple teaching about truth I started to think about how we have lost sight of this distinction in the modern world. All the ancient spiritual teachings guide us to care for the wellbeing of the world and to live in a way that benefits all beings. Yet, the modern world is run on principles of competition and aggression that allow some to profit greatly while others suffer. And it’s all supported by “facts”

Fact: Monsanto owns patents for all of their GMO seeds and therefore has the right to sue farmers for unlawfully saving GMO seeds for patent-infringement.

Truth: GMO crops devastate the eco-system they are grown in and contaminate nearby crops. Farmers may not even know that the seeds they are saving have these GMO traits because it was contamination, rather than choice, that caused it. Lawsuits against the few farmers that are struggling to make a living and committed to growing non-GMO crops hurts everyone (except Monsanto) and degrades the quality of our food supply even further.

When cases like this go to court where they ask for “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” they are really just looking for “the facts, all the facts and nothing but the facts.” Unfortunately, they are not considering what benefits all beings and looking instead to the artificial “rights” established by a system of ownership and privilege.

The same is the case for so many issues we are facing in this Industrial Growth Society where we accept off shore drilling and nuclear power because it is “legal” and then witness the devastation of so many life forms in the wake of the Gulf Shore spill and the Fukushima disaster. And where neuro-toxins and carcinogenic ingredients are included in almost all of the processed foods marketed to children because they are “Generally Regarded As Safe” by the FDA while our youth struggles with outrageous rates of ADHD, autism and life threatening diseases that children should never have.

I believe that it’s time for us to remember and revive the ancient teachings that were given to us to help us preserve and protect life. It is time for us to value truth above the facts once again…in our own lives, in the choices we make, in how we spend our money and time and what we create for our children.